1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the management of a telecommunications system, and more particularly to management systems and methods for interfacing with the telecommunications system to perform management functions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a typical telecommunications system, a subscriber terminal may be located at a subscriber""s premises for handling calls to and from that subscriber. One or more lines may be provided from the subscriber terminal for supporting one or more items of telecommunications equipment located at the subscriber""s premises. Further, a central terminal may be provided for controlling a number of subscriber terminals, and in particular for managing calls between a subscriber terminal and other components of a telecommunications network.
As the number of users of telecommunications networks increases, so there is an ever increasing demand for such networks to be able to support more users. As techniques are developed to enable such systems to support more and more subscriber terminals, and hence more users, then it is clear that the telecommunications systems become more complex, and that thus the issue of managing such telecommunications systems becomes more complicated.
As the number of elements in the telecommunications system increases, then clearly the volume of management information to be handled will tend to increase. For example, the various elements within the telecommunications system will need to be configured, and hence configuration information will have to be distributed to those elements. Further, management functions such as the management of alarms generated by the elements of the telecommunications system, and the downloading of software to the telecommunications system, will need to be implemented.
It is known to provide a management system, such as an element manager, to handle the various management functions. Typically, the management system would be arranged to establish a connection with an item of telecommunications equipment, for example a central terminal, and to then initiate the various management functions. However, as the size of the telecommunications system increases, and hence more and more elements need to be managed, then the variety of management information and functions which must be passed over the communications link between the element manager and the telecommunications system tends to become quite large, resulting in a complex interface being required between the management system and the telecommunications system.
It is hence an object of the present invention to provide an improved technique for managing a telecommunications system.
Viewed from a first aspect, the present invention provides a management system for a telecommunications system, the telecommunications system having a plurality of objects representing elements of the telecommunications system and/or operations that may be applied to those elements, the management system comprising: a management controller connectable to an item of telecommunications equipment of the telecommunications system for passing messages over a communications link between the management controller and a management element of the telecommunications system to invoke management operations; means for defining a number of messages which may be generated by the management controller or the management element for passing over the communications link, each message being arranged to include one or more information elements; at least one of the messages being arranged to identify one of said objects as an information element and to cause different management operations to be invoked dependent on the object identified.
In accordance with the present invention, a management controller of the management system is arranged to establish a communications link with a management element of the telecommunications system so as to enable management operations to be invoked. Further, the management system has access to a number of messages which can be generated for passing over the communications link so as to invoke the management operations, each message being arranged to include one or more information elements. The telecommunications system has a plurality of objects representing elements of the telecommunications system and/or operations that may be applied to those elements, and, in accordance with the present invention, at least one of the messages is arranged to identify one of the objects as an information element and to cause different management operations to be invoked dependent on the object identified.
By this approach, a separate message is not required for each management operation, and instead particular management operations can be invoked by virtue of the object specified within a particular message. This enables the number of messages required to operate the interface between the management system and the telecommunications system to be drastically reduced, thereby significantly simplifying the interface between the management system and the telecommunications system. Furthermore, by this approach, it is possible to develop a generic interface between the management system and the telecommunications system that is independent of the particular management functions that need to be performed on any particular telecommunications system. Hence, this enables the management system to be readily reused with different telecommunications systems without the requirement to alter the message interface between the management system and the telecommunications system.
The objects provided by the telecommunications system can represent various entities. For example, at least one of the plurality of objects may represent an element of the telecommunications system. Further, at least one of the plurality of objects may represent an element of the telecommunications system and an operation to be applied to that element. It will also be apparent that the objects may represent other combinations of elements and/or operations. For example, an object may represent a single element and a group of operations to be applied to that element, or alternatively an object may represent a group of elements and an operation to be applied to that group of elements.
In preferred embodiments, said means for defining defines a first message that is arranged to include two information elements, a first information element identifying a particular object from said plurality of objects, and the second information element identifying object data to replace corresponding object data in the particular object. Hence, this message can be used to change the content of a particular object, and so for example may be used to alter configuration data of an object.
However, in preferred embodiments, the particular object identified by the first information element may represent an element of the telecommunications system and an operation to be applied to that element, the management controller being arranged to pass the first message over the communications link to the management element to invoke a management operation, the management operation invoked depending on the operation represented by the particular object. Hence, this first message can also be used to invoke a number of different management operations, the exact management operation being invoked depending on the operation represented by the particular object. This enables the same basic message to be used over the communications link between the management system and the telecommunications system, whilst the objects provided by the telecommunications system and referenced in the message determine the management function to be employed. Therefore, the message set for the interface between the management system and the telecommunications system can be developed independently of the structure of the telecommunications system, and of the management functions to be performed in respect of that telecommunications system.
In preferred embodiments, said means for defining defines a second message that is arranged to include an information element identifying one of said plurality of objects, receipt of the second message causing the identified object to be retrieved and output as an information element within a third message defined by said means for defining.
Further, in preferred embodiments, said means for defining defines a fourth message that is issued to acknowledge receipt of a message passed over the communications link. Preferably, the fourth message is issued if the message to be acknowledged by the fourth message could not be processed correctly, the fourth message including as an information element an indication of the processing problem. For example, the information element may specify that the message being acknowledged was sent to an unknown object, or, in the case of the first message, that the object data intended to replace the addressed object was of a size which did not correspond to the addressed object, etc.
In the simplest embodiment, the item of telecommunications equipment to which the management controller connects will also contain the management element. However, in alternative embodiments, the management controller is connectable to a first item of telecommunications equipment of the telecommunications system, and the management element of the telecommunications system resides on a second item of telecommunications equipment, and the messages are routed to and from the management element via a connection medium of the telecommunications system connecting the first and second items of telecommunications equipment. In such embodiments, the connection medium is preferably a backhaul used to transfer telecommunications signals between the first and second items of telecommunications equipment, a management slot being provided on the backhaul to facilitate transfer of the messages between the management element and the first item of telecommunications equipment.
Viewed from a second aspect, the present invention provides a telecommunications system, comprising: a storage for maintaining a plurality of objects representing elements of the telecommunications system and/or operations that may be applied to those elements; a management element for communicating over a communications link with a management system; and a management system in accordance with the first aspect of the present invention.
Viewed from a third aspect, the present invention provides a method of managing a telecommunications system, the telecommunications system having a plurality of objects representing elements of the telecommunications system and/or operations that may be applied to those elements, the method comprising the steps of: connecting a management controller to an item of telecommunications equipment of the telecommunications system; selecting a message from a number of messages, each message in the number of messages being arranged to include one or more information elements; passing the selected message over a communications link between the management controller and a management element of the telecommunications system to invoke a management operation; and invoking the management operation, at least one of the messages being arranged to identify one of said objects as an information element and to cause different management operations to be invoked dependent on the object identified.